Israel:  JUST A LITTLE COUNTRY

                And It's Accomplishments

As sent from Nathan Fendrich

The Middle East has been growing date palms for centuries. The average tree is about 18-20 feet tall and yields about 38 pounds of dates a year.

Israeli date trees are now yielding 400 pounds/year and are short enough to be harvested from the ground or a short ladder .

Israel the 100th smallest country, with less than 1/1000th of the world's population, can lay claim to the following: The cell phone was developed in Israel by Israelis working in the Israeli branch of Motorola, which has its largest development center in Israel .

Most of the Windows NT and XP operating systems were developed by Microsoft-Israel.

The Pentium MMX Chip technology was designed in Israel at Intel.

Both the Pentium-4 microprocessor and the Centrino processor were entirely designed, developed and produced in Israel .

The Pentium microprocessor in your computer was most likely made in Israel .

Voice mail technology was developed in Israel .

Both Microsoft and Cisco built their only R&D facilities outside the US in Israel .

The technology for the AOL Instant Messenger ICQ was developed in 1996 by four young Israelis.

Israel has the fourth largest air force in the world (after the U.S, Russia and China ). In addition to a large variety of other aircraft, Israel 's air force has an aerial arsenal of over 250 F-16's. This is the largest fleet of F-16 aircraft outside of the U. S.

Israels $100 billion economy is larger than all of its immediate neighbors combined.

Israel has the highest percentage in the world of home computers per capita.

According to industry officials, Israel designed the airline industry's most impenetrable flight security. US officials now look (finally) to Israel for advice on how to handle airborne security threats.

Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees to the population in the world.

Israel produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation by a large margin - 109 per 10,000 people -- as well as one of the highest per capita rates of patents filed.

In proportion to its population, Israel has the largest number of startup companies in the world. In absolute Israel has the largest number of startup companies than any other country in the world, except the U.S. ! (3,500 companies mostly in hi-tech).

With more than 3,000 high-tech companies and startups, Israel has the highest concentration of hi-tech companies in the world -- apart from the Silicon Valley, U.S.

Israel is ranked #2 in the world for venture capital funds right behind the U.S.

Outside the United States and Canada , Israel has the largest number of NASDAQ listed companies.

Israel has the highest average living standards in the Middle East .

The per capita income in Israel in 2000 was over $17,500, exceeding that of the UK .

On a per capita basis, Israel has the largest number of biotech startups. (New businesses)

Twenty-four per cent of Israel 's workforce holds university degrees, ranking third in the industrialized world ,after the United States and Holland and 12 per cent hold advanced degrees.

Israel is the only liberal democracy in the Middle East .

In 1984 and 1991, Israel airlifted a total of 22,000 Ethiopian Jews (Operation Solomon and Moses) at Risk in Ethiopia , to safety in Israel .

When Golda Meir was elected Prime Minister of Israel in 1969, she became the world's second elected female leader in modern times.

When the U. S. Embassy in Nairobi , Kenya was bombed in 1998, Israeli rescue teams were on the scene within a day -- and saved three victims from the rubble.

Israel has the third highest rate of entrepreneurship -- and the highest rate among women and among people over 55 - in the world.

Relative to its population, Israel is the largest immigrant-absorbing nation on earth. Immigrants come in search of democracy, religious freedom, and economic opportunity. (Hundreds of thousands from the former Soviet Union )

Israel was the first nation in the world to adopt the Kimberly process, an international standard that certifies diamonds as "conflict free."

Israel has the world's second highest per capita of new books.

Israel is the only country in the world that entered the 21st century with a net gain in its number of trees, made more remarkable because, this was achieved in an area considered mainly desert!

Israel has more museums per capita than any other country

Medicine... Israeli scientists developed the first fully computerized, no-radiation, diagnostic instrumentation for breast cancer.

An Israeli company developed a computerized system for ensuring proper administration of medications, thus removing human error from medical treatment. Every year in U. S. hospitals 7,000 patients die from treatment mistakes.

Israels Given Imaging developed the first ingestible video camera, so small it fits inside a pill. Used to view the small intestine from the inside, cancer and digestive disorders .

Researchers in Israel developed a new device that directly helps the heart pump blood, an innovation with the potential to save lives among those with heart failure. The new device is synchronized with the camera helps doctors diagnose heart's mechanical operations through a sophisticated system of sensors.

Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians in the workforce, with 145 per 10,000, as opposed to 85 in the U. S. , over 70 in Japan , and less than 60 in Germany . With over 25% of its work force employed in technical professions. Israel places first in this category as well.

A new acne treatment developed in Israel, the Clear Light device, produces a high-intensity, ultraviolet-light-free, narrow-band blue light that causes acne bacteria to self-destruct -- all without damaging surrounding skin or tissue.

An Israeli company was the first to develop and install a large-scale solar-powered and fully functional electricity generating plant, in southern California 's Mojave desert .

All the above while engaged in regular wars with an implacable enemy that seeks its destruction, and an economy continuously under strain by having to spend more per capita on its own protection than any other county on earth.

  SOUTH SUDAN: New State Created
Nadene Goldfoot
Out of Sudan, a new state has been created: South Sudan on July 9, 2011.  It is populated mostly by Christians.  There has been an ongoing war in Sudan for the past 20 years involving so much killing that refugees sought refuge in  Israel and were cheering in Tel Aviv when the news announced its birth.

Sudan has been warring starting in 1955 and going on to 1972.  It started up again in 1983 and ended in 2005.  It is said that more than religion divided this people living along the Nile River.  Two million people have died in their war and four million in the south were displaced, causing many refugees to flee to Israel. 

Sudan has been the 8th largest Muslim populated country in the world with 39,379,358  people of which 70% were Sunni Muslims.  They lived under an authoritarian republic.  The GDP was extremely low, $2,172 as of 2009.  The wars have probably caused it to drop even lower.  Iran's GDP is $10,624.  Israel is very happy about the creation of the new state and immediately offered any assistance they could.  Also, now the refugess in Israel have a safe home to return to. 

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4093222,00.html
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2011/07/israaid-sends-aid-to-newly-free-south-sudan.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Sudanese_Civil_War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Sudan

Hamas Shells Southern Israel With Six Kassam Rockets
Nadene Goldfoot

On Thursday morning in Israel the siren went off just before a kassam rocket struck the Hanegev Region in southern Israel.  That afternoon 3 more kassams fell in empty fields in southern Israel again.  The evening also brought two more kassams.  Luckily no one was injured or killed, but nerves must have been jangled a great deal after such a day. 

This time the Israeli jets retaliated by hitting two terror tunnels;  one in southern Gaza and one in northern Gaza.  These are one of the main  methods known that bring in rockets to the Hamas terrorists.  Hopefully these single-minded terrorists will be slowed down a bit. 

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4095255,00.html

Increasing Rockets Fired Into Israel
Another kassam rocket was fired into the Shaar Hanegev region of southern Israel yesterday by Hamas terrorists.  It landed about a meter from a home and damaged it.    Rockets falling into southern Israel has increased in the past few weeks.  The air force is responding. 

Resource: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4094568,00.html

Egypt's 1956 War Against Israel: 
What That Was All About and What It Led To
Nadene Goldfoot
From 1947 on, Arabs told their people that Zionists were villains and they refused to sign a peace treaty with Israel. From 1949 to 1956 Egypt launched about 9,000 attacks from terrorist cells in refugee camps in the Gaza Strip.   Colonel Gamal Abdul Nasser, who wanted Egypt to be the leader of the Arab states,  seized control of Egypt.  The way to gain Arab support was to destroy Israel by cutting off its arteries to the world. 

Israel obtained food and oil from East Africa and Asia through sea routes to Eilat.  The paths went through the Suez Canal and the Strait of Tiran which is between Saudi Arabia and Egypt , so Nasser cut off both routes.  He planted guns on the islands in the Strait and would attack ships going to or from Israel.

Egypt closed the Suez Canal to Israeli shipping in 1949.  On the 9th of August, 1949, the UN upheld Israel's complaint that Egypt was illegally blocking the canal.  Ralph Bunche, negotiator declared: "There should be free movement for legitimate shipping and no vestiges of the wartime blockade should be allowed to remain , as they are inconsistent with both the letter and the spirit of the armistice agreements",  and Egypt was ordered to open the Canal to Israeli shipping on the 1st of September 1951.  Egypt's response in 1954 was "The Arab people will not be embarrassed to declare:  We shall not be satisfied except by the final obliteration of Israel from the map of the Middle East." 

In 1955, Nasser started importing arms from the Soviet Bloc in preparation of war against Israel.  On the 31st of August, 1955 he announced no peace on Israel's border because Egypt demands vengeance, and vengeance is Israel's death. 

He brazenly challenged the French and English by also taking control of the Suez Canal who had built and operated it by nationalizing the Suez Canal in July 1956.  All three had their shipping routes in peril which was their lifeline. On October 25 Egypt signed an agreement with Syria and Jordan putting Nasser in command of all three armies.   On the 29th of October, 1956, Israel, Britain and France attacked Egypt.  The fight took 100 hours.  In an amazing show of strength, Israel conquered the entire Sinai Peninsula and Sharm al-Sheikh but England and France failed to seize the Suez Canal.  By defeating Egypt Israel ended their war of terror as well. 

World pressure, mainly from the USA and Russia,  forced Israel to return the land to Egypt without a peace treaty but they did gain the fact that a United Nations army unit was created to guard Israel's border with Egypt and to make sure that all ships could get through the Suez Canal and the Strait of Tiran. 

In 1964 the PLO was created, not to liberate the Arabs from Jordanian and Egyptian rule but to continue 40 more years of terror against Israel with the stated goal of "Pushing the Jews into the sea."  First Kuwait sponsored this group, then Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq, Iran and others.  The PLO, now called Fatah, declared continued war against Israel until all of "Palestine" was liberated, redeemed in "fire and blood".  It is to be noted that during all this time there were no Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria or Gaza.  Arafat was talking about the whole teeny state of Israel within its 1949 "green line" borders.  

Ten years of peace was too much for Nasser, so to remain a leader of the Arabs, he ordered the UN Emergency Force to leave and they did, then again blockaded the Strait of Tiran.  Israel's foreign Minister, Abba Eban questioned what the use of a United Nations presence was , when in effect, was an umbrella which is taken away as soon as it begins to rain?"  To have left when needed was unforgivable. The UN was useless for Israel.   No one challenged Nasser this time as the problem just dealt with the Strait of Tiran.  Neither Britain nor France stepped up to the plate, leaving Israel alone. 

This led to the Six Day War on June 5, 1967 when five (5) Arab states, including Jordan, attacked Israel. 
The attack  led to Judea and Samaria (West Bank) falling into Israel's control as they defeated Jordan who had illegally annexed this land 18 years earlier.  This led to the PLO's revision of its Covenant to include a "Palestinian" claim of sovereignty in the "West Bank" and Gaza Strip." 

When Jordan had occupied Judea and Samaria, even Arafat noted  in 1948 that the Egyptians had herded the Arabs into refugee camps, kept them behind barbed wire and sent in spies to murder their leaders while executing those who tried to get away.  None of these so called "Palestinians" were protesting this oppression or talking about any need for self-determination they felt they had been denied.    That's because there never has been a state of "Palestine" and no concept of a separate political, cultural or linguistic entity representing their combined group of Arabs that could be identified ever existed.  They had come from the many corners of the Arab world. 

Resource: Myths and Facts, a concise record of the Arab-Israeli conflict by Mitchell G. Bard and Joel Himelfarb
Big Lies: demlishing the myths of the propaganda war against Israel by David Meir-Levi
A young person's history of Israel, 2nd edition by David Bamberger
From Time Immemorial, the origins of the Arab-Jewish conflict over Palestine by Joan Peters
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Suez_War.html

Gaza Strip Continues Attacks on Israel
Nadene Goldfoot
On Tuesday the IAF were able to stop a terror cell and their smuggling tunnel in Northern Gaza.  They were ready to launch rockets into Israel and caught in the act.  . 

Then today one of our IDF tanks was fired on by what was thought to be an anti-tank missile from the Palestinians. near the security fence. It could have also been a roadside bomb. The tank  had entered the Strip in southern Gaza doing their checking. 

The Palestinians say that 3 bulldozers and 5 tanks had entered the strip and were about 300 meters from the security fence near the city of Khan Youris.  They also reported that the tanks had been firing at nearby homes.  The IDF related that the only firing they had done was in response to the rocket fire of the Palestinian terrorists. 

Khan Youris is a city only 4 kilometers from the Sea yet is semi-arid and hot with temperature of 30 degrees centigrade (86 degrees F.) in the summer.  It  houses  leaders of both Hamas and Fatah.  Next door is a refugee camp started in 1948 that was populated by about 35,000 Arabs. 

An IDF soldier was mildly injured, treated on the spot and then taken to the Beersheba Medical Center. 

This attack on an IDF tank by a missile is a repeat of an event on March 18, 2011.  Israel patrols for several reasons; to look for tunnels whereby arms are brought in and to protect it's civilian population from terrorist attacks. 

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4092237,00.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khan_Yunis
http://idfspokesperson.com/2011/03/18/anti-tank-missile-fired-at-idf-force-in-southern-gaza-strip/

Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria: Why They Are Important and Why They Mustn't Go Back to 67 Lines

After the Six Day War of 1967, farming settlements were established along places of defense from more attacks by the Jordan River, near the "Green Line," in the the Golan Heights and near Gaza.  They were manned by the IDF and were crucial for defense.  This is because Egypt, Syria and Jordan were still at war with Israel for decades after 1967.  Jordan was in this state of war until 1994.   Also, the PLO were actively trying to create bases for terrorism in the territories that had previously been taken by Jordan.  It was planned and developed by General Yigal Alon and called the Alon plan.  In Hebrew these are called "nahal". 

Jews had been living in Judea and Samaria long ago in biblical days.  Hebron had been populated by Jews almost continuously since the days of Joshua, 3,100 years ago.  In 1929 there were horrible pogroms against the Jews when hundreds were attacked and slaughtered.  Jerusalem was always populated by Jews as well.  In 1948 the war was centered there and about half of the population of the Jewish Quarter were massacred.  After the 1967 war, a small brave group of Orthodox Jews set up a few homes in the former Jewish section of Hebron.  Then a larger re-settlement of Jews returned to the reconstructed Jewish Quarter of East Jerusalem.  After that Jews resettled the villages of the Kfar Etzion area "Gush Etzion" SW of Bethlehem.  This had been extensively settled in the early part of the 20th century by Zionist pioneers.  Mobs of Arab irregulars had massacred most of the Jews of these villages during the 1948 war. 

Places around Jerusalem and east of Kfar Saba and Natania which is near Tel Aviv and the NE area of Petah Tiqvah were unoccupied.  They were used as sites for building projects for low cost housing as the populations of Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv were expanding.  In most cases this land was Jordanian "Crown Land', meaning no person could claim private ownership.  Jordan wouldn't have any peace negotiations after the war, so Israel's use of these unoccupied areas was legal because of Israel's sovereignty.  This was because it was created through defensive actions against the aggressor nation, Jordan.  There were a few cases where Arabs living in Judea/Samaria legally owned land and Israel wanted the land for projects, so Israel bought the land at fair market prices.  (The same thing happened in South Portland, Oregon in the city's renewal project.  They took over land of the Jews living there and paid them for it, but the price wasn't really fair at all.  They demolished synagogues, stores and  residences where people had lived for many years.) Arabs were profiting and continued to sell land to Israel until 1994 when Arafat 's Palestinian Authority was established and he said that selling land to Israel would be a capital offense.  This was so severe that some families felt they had to leave the area quickly or they might be killed by him.  Jerusalem grew so much that they had to accomodate areas of defense and surround Jerusalem. Before the war Jerusalem was surrounded on 3 1/2 sides by hostile Arab towns and villages with only one narrow road out.  Now French HIll, Ammunition Hill, Gilo, Ma'aleh Adumim and Har Homah became hi-rise suburbs that widened the city's perimeter .  Gilo had been built on privately owned land.  A Christian family in Beit Jalla sold the hilltop site to the city of Jerusalem in 1974. 

Under Prime Ministers Begin and Rabin, other communities were developed.  Most of the time they were near ancient Jewish holy sites like Joseph's Tomb near Nablus, which was Shechem in biblical days.  The land they sit on was unoccupied or un-owned, and qualified as "Crown Land" which Israel had full legal rights to build and develop.  Any land owned by Arabs was purchased.  The knesset spent much time trying to decide of this was hurting the cause of peace that they wanted to achieve with the Arabs.  They decided it was fair and could be used in future negotiations if necessary.  Peace negotiations have not yet happened and it's been 44 years in waiting. 

Sometimes a few villages were built and considered illegal or rogue because they were contrary to IDF or government instuctions.  When Arabs found someone had built on their land they were able to take the matter to court and were ruled in favor of the Arabs.  Some of these villages have been forcibly dismantled.  This is an internal problem for Israel as the Orthodox feel that all Jews should be allowed to settle anywhere in the Promised Land, especially where Abraham had lived.  This means Judea and Samaria from Shechem/Nablus to Hebron.  Prime Minister Sharon had considered dismantling any still standing, but became ill and it was not done. 

International Law shows that all these communities, which some call settlements, are legal.  This is law from   the 4th Geneva Convention, which covers land conquered in an offensive war.  This was written to keep actions like those of the Nazis in Eastern Europe during WWII deterred.  Israel became sovereign over territories in a defensive war.  The fact that Jordan remained at war until 1994 means that the conquered population was hostile.  Israel never exiled any Arabs from anywhere except in 1992 when it deported about 400 terrorists to South Lebanon in trying to stop terror activities.  Israel had a policy of "open bridges" across the Jordan even though Jordan was still in a state of war with Israel.  Arabs came into Israel and that's how the Arab population in Judea and Samaria tripled from about 650,000 in 1967 to more than 2,000,000 in 1994.  Of course they were allowed to develop towns as well.  There were as many as 260 new Arab villages or expansions of existing sites.   Israel's presence did nothing to harm the Arabs' well being,  They created beneficial economic aids.  The League of Nations said that the disposition of such territory would be a part of the peace treaty between the warring parties.  Since there was no peace treaty, the territories remained in dispute.  They are to be called "disputed territories", not occupied territories.   Their occupation by the defensive party is legal.  The Charter of the UN accepts it. 

Arabs have not been hurt by Jews returning to their land.  They have been hurt by their own people since 1994 when 96% of Palestinians living in Israel were then under the control of the Palestinian National Authority.  That's when the economy of Judea and Samaria and Gaza had been crippled.  They were then ruled by terrorists and it was not a democracy but had despotic rule.  Their GDP in 2003 was 1/10th of what it had been in 1992.  Because of Arafat and his terror, Israel had to stop attacks and protect its citizens.   and put in roads that had been there before to be used by Israelis only.  This was not the case before 94.  Arafat put an end to any possible co-existence between Jews and Arabs in Judea and Samaria and instead instigated them into hatred and murder.

For anyone to suggest that Israel must go back to the 67 lines and then dicker for land is way out of line.  Israel has a legal right to live in all of Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.  Anyone who decides to attack another nation such as the Arabs did to Israel in 1967 is also out of line and will  pay the price for doing so. 
Judea and Samaria were originally part of Israel in biblical days.  It was going to be the Jewish land from the end of WWI when it was Palestine and under English control.  It was part of their package, but the Hashemite kingdom somehow cried loud enough to change the British minds, and Israel was given a crumb of the original loaf, and they accepted it.  By the greed and hatred of the Arabs, it has come into Israel's hands once again. 

Resource: Big Lies: by David Meir-Levi, a publication of the David Horowitz Freedom Center

Another Ship from Canada Halted by Greece
Nadene Goldfoot
The  ship, Tahrir from Canada was halted by Greece.  They don't seem to want to comply with rules and regulations of Israel, the USA or the UN in their attempt to break the blockade of Gaza by sea.  This is the 2nd ship that was part of a depleting flotilla that Greece has recently stopped.  It is carrying about 50 Israel-haters.

Gaza's leaders are Hamas terrorists, voted in by the population.  Their goal is to destroy Israel, so it is war.  They have constantly been shelling southern Israel with missiles, rockets and mortars.  While Israel has the more powerful weaponry, it has to refrain from lots of retaliation due to internatonal condemnation.  After taking it for over 6 years, it finally reacted in Operation Cast Lead in trying to put an end to it. They were roundly criticized and condemned for finally protecting themselves, which shows how mentally sick the world has again become. 

How people, even Jews, can side with the Gazan terrorists who want to completely obliterate the Jews of Israel who have bent over backwards to do the right thing to people who have tried to kill them, is beyond my comprehension.  They have stepped over the line of reason. 

The Greek Navy is a group to be proud of in carrying out their role of policing the waters from their port of these invaders.  Thank you so much, Greece for helping your neighbor, Israel,  in these perilous times.  You show much bravery and courage and are a people who can be counted on.  You are truly carrying out a good deed. 

Resource: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4090989,00.html

Gazan Terrorists Play Russian Roulette Again With Israel
Nadene Goldfoot
A Kassam rocket landed in Israel's western Negev yesterday, fired from Gazan terrorists after a quiet of only two weeks.  The problem with these Kassams is that their primitivity means they have no guidance system and land wherever they land.  It's like Russian roulette.  The area they are pointed at is all civilian populated.  It could land in a field or on a child going to school.  Though it did not damage anything this time, a missile of this type is dangerous just the same.  What happened to the cease fire Gaza had promised?  Evidently we can't depend on their promises. 

Resource: Arutz Sheva Newspaper

Palestinian Arabs and IDF Clash

Near the Jewish town of Kedumim in the Samarian hills, 200 Palestinian Arabs, both Israeli and foreign, clashed with the IDF soldiers there with some throwing stones at the soldiers.

Kedumim is a town with a population of about 3,500 people.  They have agriculture, greenhouses and orchards.  Their emphasis is on education.  The town is 36 years old and was started by people from Gush Emunim. 

Kedumim has seen a lot of problems such as suicide bombings in the past. 

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4089822,00.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kedumim
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQL4eCzvkPE